Melvin Mora

Melvin Mora
Melvin Mora during a game with the Baltimore Orioles
Infielder
Born: February 2, 1972 (1972-02-02) (age 39) Agua Negra, Yaracuý State, Venezuela
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 30, 1999 for the New York Mets
Career statistics (through May 30, 2011)
Batting average	.278
Home runs	171
Runs batted in	753
Teams
New York Mets (1999–2000) Baltimore Orioles (2000–2009) Colorado Rockies (2010) Arizona Diamondbacks (2011)
Career highlights and awards
2004 Silver Slugger Award winner 2x All-Star selection (2003, 2005)

Melvin Mora (born February 2, 1972 in Agua Negra, Yaracuý State, Venezuela), affectionately nicknamed Melmo or Melvy, is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder who is a free agent. He has played for the New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks.

From his debut in 1999 to 2003, Melvin Mora was known as a utility player, playing all three outfield positions, shortstop, and second base. In 2004, Mora was designated the everyday third baseman, a position he has played regularly ever since.

Baseball career

New York Mets

Mora was signed out of Venezuela in 1991. After spending seven years in the Astros minors system and couple of months in CPBL's Mercuries Tigers, he signed as a free agent with the Mets in 1998 and made his major league debut in the 1999 season. With his ability to play all three outfield positions, shortstop, second base and third, Mora was considered a valuable man to have around.

In 1999, he scored the winning run of the final game of the year for the Mets on a wild pitch by the Pirates' Brad Clontz, which propelled the Mets to a one-game playoff with Cincinnati, which they won.

Baltimore Orioles

2000–02

Melvin Mora was traded by the Mets to Baltimore on July 28, 2000 with two minor league players and Mike Kinkade for shortstop Mike Bordick.^[1]

Used as a utility player in Baltimore, Mora showed promise and hints of ability to contribute as an every day player but struggled to break through. Things changed when an injury-depleted Orioles team used Mora almost exclusively in left field, and Mora responded with the best stretch of his career. He reached base in 32 straight games while using a 23-game hitting streak to temporarily become the American League batting leader. Finally excelling as a hitter, Mora was chosen for his first All-Star selection. Mora's season was cut short due to injuries (a bruised wrist and a partially torn ligament in his left knee), but finished with a .317 batting average, 15 home runs, and a .418 on-base percentage in 96 games.

2003–04

Mora's 2003 season proved that he could be a consistent hitter at the major league level. In 2004, Mora became the Orioles' regular third baseman and enjoyed his most productive season in the majors. Mora hit a career-high .340, finishing second in the AL batting race to Ichiro Suzuki's .372 mark; led the league hitters in on base percentage (.419); ranked 5th in slugging average (.562) and OPS (.981); 6th in runs (111), doubles (41) and times on base (264); 8th in hits (187), and 9th in total bases (264). His 27 home runs and 104 RBI were also career-highs, while leading his team in batting average, runs, on base percentage, slugging average and OPS. At third base, he improved and became more consistent as the season wore on.

2005–07

In 2005, Mora once again hit 27 home runs, although his batting average and on base percentage dropped. On May 19, 2006 Mora agreed to a three-year, $25M deal that included a no-trade clause because Mora did not want to move his family to another city.^[2]

In 2006, Mora's home run total dropped to 16, and again dropped in 2007 to 14. Mora also saw his batting average fall to .274 for both seasons.

2008

Mora was named American League Player of the Month for August 2008. Mora batted .418 (41-for-98) with 8 home runs and had a MLB leading 32 RBIs in 24 games. He posted a .765 slugging percentage and a .455 on-base percentage, with 17 extra-base hits, including eight doubles. Mora had a 13 multi-hit games in August 2008 and maintained an 8-game hitting streak from August 1–10. On August 17 at Detroit, Mora went 5-for-6 with two doubles, 2 home runs, 4 runs scored and 6 RBIs during a 16–8 Orioles win. Overall, Mora had five games in August in which he collected four-or-more RBIs. Mora injured his hamstring on August 29, 2008, missing the final games of his impressive month.

2009

On September 18, 2009, Brooks Robinson made a rare appearance at Camden Yards to honor Mora for moving into second all-time in games played at third base by an Oriole (behind only the Hall of Famer Brooks, himself). He presented Melvin with the third base from the game he moved into second.

In 2009 he led all major league starting third basemen in range factor, at 3.14.^[3]

Mora's option was declined by the Orioles on October 29, 2009.

Colorado Rockies

On February 5, 2010, the Colorado Rockies signed Mora to a one-year, $1.275 million contract.^[4][5] He played in 113 games for the NL West third place Rockies (83-79) and batted .285 with seven home runs and 45 RBI.^{[6] [7]}

Arizona Diamondbacks

On December 6, 2010, the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Mora to a two-year $4 million dollar contract.

On June 29, 2011, the Diamondbacks released Mora after he batted .228 with no homeruns and 16 RBI's.^[8]

World Baseball Classic

Melvin Mora agreed to represent his native country, Venezuela, in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, joining fellow Venezuelan major Leaguers Bobby Abreu, Edgardo Alfonzo, Miguel Cairo, Omar Vizquel, Carlos Guillén, Johan Santana, Freddy García, Carlos Silva, Carlos Zambrano, Victor Zambrano, Juan Rivera, and Francisco Rodríguez. He later pulled out after being denied the third-base position in favor of Miguel Cabrera.

Highlights

• Twice All-Star (2003, 2005)
• Twice American League Player of the Month (May 2004, August 2008)
• First player to hit a home run off the top of the foul pole at Camden Yards
• 2000 Wampum Willy Award Winner

Personal life

When he was six years old, his father was murdered in front of him in Venezuela by men who mistook him for somebody else.^[9]

On July 28, 2001, Mora's wife Gisel gave birth to quintuplets at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The babies, three girls and two boys, were named Genesis Raquel, Jada Priscilla, Rebekah Alesha, Christian Emmanuel, and Matthew David. They also had an older daughter Tatiana before the quintuplets were born.^[10] The family resides in Fallston, Maryland.^[11]

In the Orioles media guide, Mora stated his most embarrassing moment as a player came in his rookie year when, knowing little English, he thought his coach told him to go to left field—he was actually being told to go to second base. Melvin Mora is the best player I have ever seen.

References

1. ^ "Melvin Mora". Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/M/Pmoram002.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 
2. ^ Associated Press (2006-05-19). "Mora signs three-year, $25M extension with Orioles". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2451156. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 
3. ^ "MLB Player Fielding Stats - As 3b - 2009," ESPN, accessed October 6, 2009
4. ^ Harding, Thomas (2010-01-31). "Rockies agree to one year deal with Mora". MLB.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100131&content_id=8001834&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved 2010-02-01. 
5. ^ Rockies agree to terms with Mora
6. ^ Baseball-reference.com (player)
7. ^ Baseball-reference.com (team)
8. ^ Bloom, Barry M. (29 June 2011). "D-Backs release veteran Mora". MLB.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110629&content_id=21184412&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved 9 August 2011. 
9. ^ http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/morame01.php
10. ^ Klingaman, Mike. "Mora's abundance of fatherly joy," The Baltimore Sun, Sunday, June 21, 2009.
11. ^ Connolly, Dan (January 5, 2010). "Three teams showing interest in Mora, his agent says". The Baltimore Sun: p. 3. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• USA Today Orioles' Mora a Nº 1 dad
• Johns Hopkins Hospital Dome - Mora Quintuples

Preceded by Carlos Beltrán Miguel Cabrera

American League Player of the Month May 2004 August 2008

Succeeded by Iván Rodríguez Shin-Soo Choo

Persondata
Name	Mora, Melvin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 2, 1972
Place of birth	Agua Negra, Yaracuý State, Venezuela
Date of death
Place of death